Chapter 260

Excluding officials at all levels, clerks, the capital garrison soldiers, and their families.

The common people of Jin Ling should number around six hundred thousand.

And these same six hundred thousand people include nearly one hundred thousand who were directly hired by Su Qiao's Treasure Note Bureau to form construction teams.

All of them were thrown into the vigorous construction of the new Jin Ling.

Besides this team of one hundred thousand construction workers.

In the suburbs of Jin Ling City, numerous brick kilns and lumber yards sprang up like bamboo shoots after rain.

And these brick kilns and lumber yards likewise spawned a large number of coal mines.

On the Grand Canal, a thousand sails followed one another, treading the water as they came.

The prosperity of the scene was unprecedented since ancient times!

Having toured the area outside the city, Zhu Yuanzhang gazed at this scene on the canal and could not help but click his tongue in wonder.

"How many Treasure Notes has this young man printed, exactly?"

Jiang Huan stood before Zhu Yuanzhang, clasping his hands and saying,

"Your Majesty, I too have heard some whispers."

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed and said,

"Speak."

Jiang Huan lowered his voice and said,

"Although currently the hundred officials in court are full of complaints against Lord Su."

"But the common people..."

Upon hearing "common people," Zhu Yuanzhang's eyebrows immediately furrowed.

"How are the common people? Have they cursed Su Qiao?"

From beginning to end, the common people still occupied a considerable place in Zhu Yuanzhang's heart.

Jiang Huan shook his head and said,

"Not at all; the common people in the city long ago no longer have the time to concern themselves with Lord Su."

"Many in the inner city have received quite a large sum of compensation; seeing the heavy profits in Jin Ling, some have gone north to buy coal, some have built ships on the spot, and some have opened kilns to fire bricks."

"I estimate that if this continues, relying solely on Ying Tian Prefecture, the bricks and stones produced annually will equal the total bricks and stones produced by Great Ming in several previous years."

Zhu Yuanzhang's brows locked tightly, and he asked in a low voice,

"The officials weep, the common people laugh..."

"The officials weeping is better than the common people weeping."

"Has this young man Su Qiao truly not acted recklessly?"

Old Zhu did not know the answer.

But judging by the current situation,

everything before his eyes still remained within a controllable range.

"By the way, this young man Su Qiao has torn Jin Ling apart like this; he surely cannot just leave it alone, right? What is Su Qiao preparing to do now?"

"Rebuild Jin Ling."

"To be precise, Lord Su has completely re-planned the entire Ying Tian Prefecture."

"After the reconstruction, Ying Tian Prefecture will rebuild thirty-five Public Welfare Medicine Bureaus, two hundred and twenty community schools, and six orphanages."

The moment he heard these numbers,

Zhu Yuanzhang could not help but draw in a sharp breath of cold air.

"So many?"

"How many Public Welfare Medicine Bureaus does our Great Ming have in total!"

Old Zhu, at the beginning of his reign, knew deeply that the common people had long suffered from illness and pain; the former medicine merchants not only demanded money but also could not save lives.

Since the founding of Great Ming, Zhu Yuanzhang had vigorously promoted the construction of Public Welfare Medicine Bureaus in all provinces across the land.

But the final result was nothing more than building a mere handful of Public Welfare Medicine Bureaus in the provincial capitals of various provinces.

Who could have thought that a single Ying Tian Prefecture would build thirty-five Public Welfare Medicine Bureaus and two hundred and twenty community schools!

Jiang Huan looked at Zhu Yuanzhang in confusion and asked,

"But Your Majesty, in the end, is this not all for the good of the common people?"

Zhu Yuanzhang's old face darkened, and he said with a sigh,

"Yes, do you think I don't know this is for the good of the common people? The key is, where is the money coming from?"

"If it were this simple, would we need this Su Qiao to handle it?"

Money does not fall from the sky.

Inside the chat group.

Zhu Qi also asked with a look of astonishment,

"Where exactly did Su Qiao get so much silver?"

Jiajing spoke in a low voice with an air of indifference,

"Simple; Su Qiao can simply take the Treasure Notes to the black market to exchange for copper coins and Bai Yin to stabilize the price of the Treasure Notes."

The matter Jiajing mentioned,

Old Zhu had already vaguely guessed long ago.

After all, there cannot truly be anyone in this world with the ability to turn stone into gold.

Since he did not touch the court's silver,

he naturally had to tamper with the Treasure Notes.

Zhu Yuanzhang gazed silently at Jin Ling in the distance, gritting his teeth and saying,

"If my guess is correct, this boy won't last a few days."

Just by Su Qiao's fervor in printing Baochao.

What use is it to collect even more silver and cash from the market?

Yet Jiajing in the chat group frowned tightly.

"Ancestor Emperor, your subject believes Su Qiao has likely miscalculated this move; if redemption continues like this,"

"a great disaster is bound to occur."

Using Baochao to redeem silver and cash on the black market seems to find silver and cash in the short term.

But the essence remains adding fuel to the fire.

It not only fails to stabilize the momentum of Baochao.

It will even cause the price of Baochao to drop lower with every redemption.

Zhu Yuanzhang's brow furrowed tightly, and he snorted,

"Give that boy a few more months; let's see what tricks he can conjure!"

……

……

The main hall of the Jusiya Sect.

The Deputy Commissioner and several clerks, panicked and disoriented, looked at Su Qiao and said,

"My lord, we cannot continue redeeming like this; if we keep going, a great disaster is bound to befall the Baochao."

Su Qiao lazily raised his head, looked at the crowd before him, and asked,

"What disaster?"

"My lord, by this evening, one string of Baochao could redeem less than seven hundred cash on the black market."

"Currently, the amount of Baochao at the Xingyong Treasury is increasing with every redemption."

"I heard that officials from the Six Offices of Censorship and the Censorate are already preparing to impeach you, my lord."

Originally, these hundred officials had been confused when Su Qiao dismantled their households, and they were already displeased.

How could they possibly miss such a good opportunity to impeach Su Qiao?

However, Su Qiao did not care in the slightest.

He sighed leisurely and said,

"Let them impeach."

"How much Baochao has the Xingyong Treasury collected so far?"

Upon hearing this, the Deputy Commissioner froze.